Scaling virtualization resource units of applications

ABSTRACT

A request to launch an application that is comprised of a plurality of layers is received. Each layer of the plurality of layers of the application is comprised of one or more corresponding virtualization resource units. The one or more corresponding virtualization resource units at each of the plurality of layers of the application is expressed as a resource ratio. It is determined that a surplus of resources is available for one or more applications. In response to determining that the surplus of resources is available for one or more applications, a priority associated with the application is determined. A version of the application is launched based on the determined priority associated with the application. The launched version of the application maintains the resource ratio.

CROSS REFERENCE TO OTHER APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.17/227,108, entitled SCALING VIRTUALIZATION RESOURCE UNITS OFAPPLICATIONS filed Apr. 9, 2021, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/456,367, now U.S. Pat. No. 11,003,504, entitledSCALING VIRTUALIZATION RESOURCE UNITS OF APPLICATIONS filed Jun. 28,2019, each of which is incorporated herein by reference for allpurposes.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A virtualization container may be comprised of an application, thedependencies of the application, libraries, one or more other binaries,and configuration files needed to run the application. The applicationrunning in the virtualization container may be one part of a largerapplication, where each part of the larger application is running on acorresponding virtualization container. The plurality of virtualizationcontainers that comprise the larger application may be deployed to oneor more computing environments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various embodiments of the invention are disclosed in the followingdetailed description and the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for scaling applicationsin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an example of an applicationhosted on a data storage system in accordance with some embodiments.

FIGS. 2B, 2C, and 2D are block diagrams illustrating examples of ascaled application hosted on a data storage system in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationhosted on a data storage system in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling a plurality ofapplications in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationin accordance with some embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

An application may be stored on a data storage system as a set ofcontainer images. When the application is executed by the data storagesystem, the application may be comprised of one or more layers whereeach layer is comprised of one or more virtualization containers. Forexample, an application may be comprised of three layers. The firstlayer of the application may be comprised of one virtualizationcontainer, the second layer of the application may be comprised of twovirtualization containers, and the third layer of the application may becomprised of one virtualization container. The number of virtualizationcontainers at each layer may be expressed using a resource ratio. Forexample, an application comprised of a first layer having onevirtualization container, a second layer having two virtualizationcontainers, and a third layer having one virtualization container has aresource ratio of 1:2:1.

An application developer may specify the resource ratio and the one ormore container types associated with each layer of the application. Theapplication developer may also specify a default amount of resourcesneeded to run the application. The default amount of resources may bethe minimum amount of resources needed to run the application. Thespecified default amount of resources may include a default amount ofmemory needed to run the application, a default amount of CPUs needed torun the application, a default amount of input/output operations persecond (IOPS) needed to run the application, etc. The default amount ofresources may be specified for each virtualization container associatedwith the application and/or for the application as a whole. In someembodiments, the default amount of resources may be the amount ofresources needed to meet certain performance metrics for theapplication. The application developer may also specify a maximum amountof resources that may be allocated for the application. The maximumamount of resources may be specified for each virtualization containerassociated with the application and/or for the application as a whole.

An application, beyond one or more core functionalities of a datastorage system, may be deployed to the data storage system. Examples ofapplications include, but are not limited to, a data analyticsapplication, an anti-virus application, a malicious software detectionapplication, a search application, etc. An application may be a thirdparty application that is downloaded from an application store andinstalled on the data storage system. In some embodiments, anapplication is not pre-installed on the data storage system before thedata storage system is provided to a user. The user associated with thedata storage system may select one or more applications to be downloadedand installed to the data storage system after the data storage systemhas been provided to the user.

The data storage system may be configured to run one or more corefunctionalities. A core functionality may be part of the data storagesystem infrastructure that is pre-installed on the data storage systembefore the data storage system is provided to the user. For example, theone or more core functionalities of the data storage system may includedata backup, data restoration, data replication, data archival, storagefiler, operating system, infrastructure needed to execute one or moreapplications (e.g., hypervisor, container infrastructure), etc. The datastorage system has a total amount of available resources. A portion ofthe total amount of available resources may be reserved for the one ormore core functionalities. The portion of the total amount of availableresources reserved for the one or more core functionalities may varyover time depending upon the resource needs of the one or more corefunctionalities. The total amount of available resources less the amountof resources reserved for one or more core functionalities may be theamount of resources available to operate the one or more applications.

System resource utilizations by the one or more core functionalities ofthe data storage system may be monitored. The one or more corefunctionalities of the data storage system may be given resourcepriority over the one or more applications. The data storage system maybe configured to allocate resources such that the data storage system isable to perform the one or more core functionalities and to provide thecorresponding default amount of resources needed to run the one or moreapplications. In some embodiments, the data storage system has a surplusof resources to allocate to the one or more applications (e.g.,additional resources in excess of the default amount of resourcesallocated to the one or more applications). For example, the one or morecore functionalities may be consuming less than the amount of resourcesreserved for the one or more core functionalities. The data storagesystem may re-allocate the surplus of resources to the one or moreapplications.

The data storage system may be comprised of one or more storage nodes.In some embodiments, the one or more storage nodes are physical storagenodes. Each storage node may have a corresponding processor and becomprised of one or more storage tiers of storage (e.g., one or moresolid state drives (SSDs) and/or one or more hard disk drives (HDDs)).The data storage system may be configured to back up data from a primarysystem. The one or more applications may be configured to run one ormore processes on the data that is backed up from the primary system tothe data storage system. In some embodiments, the one or moreapplications are configured to run one or more processes on the datathat is generated on or by the data storage system. In some embodiments,the one or more applications may be configured to run as a backgroundprocess on the data storage system. In other embodiments, the datastorage system is comprised of one or more virtual storage nodes thatare operating in a cloud environment (e.g., public cloud, privatecloud). Each virtual storage node may have a corresponding amount ofstorage.

Additional resources may be provisioned for an application to improve aperformance of the application. However, merely provisioning additionalresources to an application may cause the application to experienceproblems, such as suboptimal operation or an inefficient usage ofresources. An application may be comprised of one or more layers whereeach layer is comprised of one or more virtualization containers. Thedata storage system may have additional resources to add an additionalvirtualization container to one of the application layers. However,adding an additional virtualization container to one of the applicationlayers may create bottlenecks within the application. For example, anapplication may be comprised of three layers and have a resource ratioof 1:2:1. Additional resources may be provided such that the resourceratio is 1:3:1. The second layer of virtualization containers mayprocess data at such a rate that the virtualization container of thethird layer is unable to maintain the rate at which it processes data.In some embodiments, adding an additional virtualization container toone of the virtualization container layers without addingvirtualizations containers to the other virtualization container layersmay cause the application to stop working.

Additional resources may be provisioned to an application based on theresource ratio. A certain amount of resources is needed to scale thenumber of virtualization containers of the application to a multiple ofthe resource ratio. For example, the application may have a resourceratio of 1:2:1 and the number of virtualization containers of theapplication may be scaled to 2:4:2, 3:6:3, . . . , n:2n:n. The amount ofresources needed to scale the number of virtualization containers of theapplication to a multiple of the resource ratio may be compared to thesurplus of resources associated with the data storage system. In theevent the amount of resources needed to scale the number ofvirtualization containers of the application to a multiple of theresource ratio is less than the surplus of resources associated with thedata storage system, additional resources may be provisioned to theapplication. The amount of resources needed to scale a first applicationmay be different than the amount of resources needed to scale a secondapplication.

Other factors may be considered by the data storage system whendetermining whether to provision additional resources to an application.For example, the data storage system may provision resources for anapplication based on an amount of data associated with the application.An application may only process jpeg data. The data storage system maystore jpeg files occupying a small amount of storage (e.g., less than100 MB of jpeg files). Even though additional resources may beprovisioned to the application, a resource manager of the data storagesystem may decide against provisioning additional resources to theapplication because the improvement in performance of the application isnegligible (e.g., performance doesn't improve more than a thresholdamount). The additional resources that may be provisioned for theapplication may be provisioned to a different application. In someembodiments, the data storage system may store jpeg files occupying alarge amount of storage (e.g., more than 1 TB of jpeg files). The datastorage system may provision additional resources to the applicationwhen they become available to help the application process jpeg filesfaster because the improvement in performance of the application isnon-negligible (e.g., performance improves more than a thresholdamount). The plurality of files stored by the data storage system may betagged with a file type. The data storage system may use the file typetags to determine the amount of data of particular type stored by thedata storage system, to determine the amount of data to be processed bythe application, and to determine whether provisioning additionalresources for the application results in a non-negligible improvement ina performance of the application. In some embodiments, a user associatedwith the data storage system specifies an amount of resources that maybe provisioned for an application. The user associated with the storagesystem may indicate that an application is not to be scaled up in theevent a surplus of resources exists (e.g., because the improvement inperformance is not greater than a threshold amount). In someembodiments, the one or more applications are scaled up or scaled downbased on an amount of latency associated with the data storage system.

Resources may be provisioned to one or more applications based on aschedule associated with the one or more core functionalities of thedata storage system. One or more core functionalities may be scheduledto be performed at a particular time. The data storage system canestimate the amount of resources that the one or more corefunctionalities will need at the particular time. In the event the datastorage system is able to perform the one or more core functionalitiesassociated with the data storage system at the particular time, the datastorage system may provision the remaining resources for one or moreapplications.

Using a resource ratio to scale up virtualization containers associatedwith an application may not only ensure that the application willprocess data faster, but also may ensure that the application is able toproperly function. Furthermore, providing the one or more corefunctionalities of a data storage system with resource priority over theone or more application may ensure that the one or more corefunctionalities of the data storage system are not disrupted fromproperly functioning.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for scaling applicationsin accordance with some embodiments. In the example shown, system 100includes a primary system 102 coupled to data storage system 112 viaconnection 110. Connection 110 may be a wireless or wired connection.Connection 110 may be a LAN, WAN, intranet, the Internet, and/or acombination thereof.

Primary system 102 is a computing system that is configured to store aplurality of files in one or more volumes 104. Primary system 102 may becomprised of one or more servers, one or more computing devices, one ormore storage devices, and/or a combination thereof. Primary system 102may include change block tracker 106. The file system data stored onprimary system 102 is comprised of one or more data blocks. Change blocktracker 106 may be configured to monitor the one or more data blocks andstore an indication of when one of the one or more data blocks has beenmodified. Change block tracker 106 may receive one or more data blocksassociated with one or more files in route to being stored in the one ormore volumes 104 of primary system 102. A change block tracker may beconfigured to maintain a map of the one or more changes to the filesystem data. The map may include the one or more data blocks that werechanged, the values associated with the one or more changed data blocks,and an associated timestamp. In the event primary system 102 performs abackup snapshot (either full or incremental), change block tracker 106may be configured to clear (e.g., empty) the map of the one or more datablocks that have been modified.

Data storage system 112 may be comprised of a plurality of storage nodes111, 113, 115. Data storage system 112 may ingest and store datareceived from primary system 102 via connection 110. Each storage nodeof data storage system 112 may have its own corresponding processor. Theone or more storage nodes may be comprised of one or more tiers ofstorage. A high performance tier may be a storage tier with fasterperformance than one or more other storage tiers that may be availableto the system. For example, the high performance tier of storage may becomprised of one or more SSDs and the non-high performance tier ofstorage may be comprised of one or more HDDs. In some embodiments, eachstorage node is comprised of a processor and a plurality of solid statedrives. The plurality of solid state drives may be divided into aplurality of storage tiers based on performance of a solid state drivewith respect to the other solid state drives of the system (e.g., highperformance storage tier, medium performance storage tier, lowperformance storage tier).

In other embodiments, data storage system 112 is comprised of one ormore virtual storage nodes that are operating in a cloud environment(e.g., public cloud, private cloud). Each virtual storage node may havea corresponding amount of storage. An application may be deployed to theone or more virtual storage nodes. The application may be scaled up orscaled down, as described herein, when deployed to the one or morevirtual storage nodes.

The data received from primary system 102 may be stored in one or moreof the storage nodes 111, 113, 115. In some embodiments, the one or morestorage nodes store one or more copies of the data. In one embodiment,data storage system 112 is comprised of one SSD and three HDDs. The datareceived from primary system 102 may be stored in the one or more SSDsand/or the one or more HDDs.

In some embodiments, the data received from primary system 102 includesfile system data that is included in a backup snapshot. A backupsnapshot may represent a state of the file system data of primary system102 at a particular moment in time. In some embodiments, the backupsnapshot is a full backup snapshot and includes all of the file systemdata stored on primary system 102 at the time at which the backupsnapshot is performed. In some embodiments, the backup snapshot is anincremental backup snapshot and includes the file system data stored onprimary system 102 that was not previously backed up.

A storage node of data storage system 112 may include a processor thatis configured to run file system manager 117. In some embodiments, theprocessors of a plurality of storage nodes of data storage system 112are configured to run file system manager 117. File system manager 117may be configured to organize in a tree data structure the file systemdata received in a backup snapshot from primary system 102. An exampleof the tree data structure is a file system metadata snapshot tree(e.g., Cohesity Snaptree®), which may be based on a B+ tree structure(or other type of tree structure in other embodiments). The tree datastructure provides a view of the file system data corresponding to abackup snapshot. The view of the file system data corresponding to thebackup snapshot may be comprised of a file system metadata snapshot treeand a plurality of file metadata structures (also referred to as a “filemetadata tree”). A file metadata structure may correspond to one of thefiles included in the backup snapshot. The file metadata structure is asnapshot structure that stores the metadata associated with the file.The file system metadata snapshot tree and file metadata structures maybe stored in metadata store 114. Metadata store 114 may store a view offile system data corresponding to a backup snapshot. Metadata store 114may also store data associated with content files that are smaller thana limit size (e.g., 256 kB). Metadata store 114 may be stored across thehigh performance tier of storage nodes 111, 113, 115.

The tree data structure may be used to capture different versions ofbackup snapshots. The tree data structure allows a chain of file systemmetadata snapshot trees corresponding to different versions of backupsnapshots (i.e., different file system metadata snapshot tree versions)to be linked together by allowing a node of a later version of a filesystem metadata snapshot tree to reference a node of a previous versionof a file system metadata snapshot tree (e.g., a “snapshot treeforest”). For example, a root node or an intermediate node of a secondfile system metadata snapshot tree corresponding to a second backupsnapshot may reference an intermediate node or leaf node of a first filesystem metadata snapshot tree corresponding to a first backup snapshot.

A file system metadata snapshot tree is a representation of a fullyhydrated backup because it provides a complete view of the storagevolume(s) of primary system 102 at a particular moment in time. A fullyhydrated backup is a backup that is ready for use without having toreconstruct a plurality of backups to use it. Previous systems mayreconstruct a backup by starting with a full backup and applying one ormore changes associated with one or more incremental backups to the dataassociated with the full backup. In contrast, any file stored in thestorage volume at a particular time and the file's contents, for whichthere is an associated backup, may be determined from the file systemmetadata snapshot tree, regardless if the associated backup snapshot wasa full backup snapshot or an incremental backup snapshot. Creating anincremental backup snapshot may only include copying data of the storagevolume(s) that was not previously backed up. However, the file systemmetadata snapshot tree corresponding to the incremental backup snapshotprovides a complete view of the storage volume(s) at the particularmoment in time because it includes references to data of the storagevolume that was previously stored. For example, a root node associatedwith the file system metadata snapshot tree may include one or morereferences to leaf nodes associated with one or more previous backupsnapshots and one or more references to leaf nodes associated with thecurrent backup snapshot. This may provide significant savings in theamount of time needed to restore or recover a storage volume and/or adatabase. In contrast, previous recovery/restoration methods may requiresignificant time, storage, and computational resources to reconstruct aparticular version of a volume or database from a full backup and aseries of incremental backups.

A file system metadata snapshot tree may include a root node, one ormore levels of one or more intermediate nodes associated with the rootnode, and one or more leaf nodes associated with an intermediate node ofthe lowest intermediate level. The root node of a file system metadatasnapshot tree may include one or more pointers to one or moreintermediate nodes. Each intermediate node may include one or morepointers to other nodes (e.g., a lower intermediate node or a leafnode). A leaf node may store file system metadata, data associated witha file that is less than a limit size, an identifier of a data brick, apointer to a file metadata structure (e.g., Blob structure), or apointer to a data chunk stored on the data storage system.

Data associated with a file that is smaller than or equal to a limitsize (e.g., 256 kB) may be stored in a leaf node of the file systemmetadata snapshot tree. A leaf node may be an index node (inode). A filemetadata structure may be generated for a file that is larger than thelimit size. The file metadata structure is configured to store themetadata associated with a version of a file.

The file metadata structure may include a root node, one or more levelsof one or more intermediate nodes associated with the root node, and oneor more leaf nodes associated with an intermediate node of the lowestintermediate level. The tree data structure associated with a filemetadata structure may allow a chain of file metadata structurescorresponding to different versions of a file to be linked together byallowing a node of a later version of a file metadata structure toreference a node of a previous version of a file metadata structure. Forexample, a root node or an intermediate node of a second file metadatastructure corresponding to a second version of a file may reference anintermediate node or leaf node of a first file metadata structurecorresponding to a first version of the file. A file metadata structuremay be associated with a plurality of chunk files. A chunk file may becomprised of a plurality of file segment data chunks.

A leaf node of a file metadata structure may store a value, such as anidentifier of a data brick associated with one or more data chunks. Forexample, a file metadata structure may correspond to a file and a leafnode of the file metadata structure may include a pointer to or anidentifier of a data brick associated with one or more data chunks ofthe file. A data brick may be associated with one or more data chunks.In some embodiments, the size of a brick is 256 kB. The one or more datachunks may be of variable length within a particular range (e.g., 4 kBto 64 kB).

The location of the one or more data chunks associated with a data brickmay be identified using one or more data structures (e.g., list, table,etc.) stored in metadata store 114. A first data structure (e.g., chunkmetadata table) may store information that associates a brick identifierwith one or more chunk identifiers and one or more chunk fileidentifiers. A second data structure (e.g., chunk file metadata table)may associate a chunk file identifier with a chunk file storing aplurality of data chunks. In some embodiments, the first data structureand the second data structure are combined as a single data structure.The one or more data chunks associated with a data brick may be locatedbased on the chunk metadata table and the chunk file metadata table. Forexample, a first data brick having a first brick identifier may beassociated with a first chunk identifier (e.g., SHA-1 hash value). Thefirst chunk identifier may be used in conjunction with the chunkmetadata table to identify a chunk file identifier. A chunk file havingthe identified chunk file identifier is comprised of a plurality of datachunks. The chunk file metadata table may be used to identify a locationof the plurality of data chunks. The chunk file metadata table mayinclude offset information of the plurality of data chunks within achunk file.

Data storage system 112 may be configured to run one or more corefunctionalities. A core functionality may be data storage system 112infrastructure that is pre-installed on the data storage system beforedata storage system 112 is provided to a user. For example, the one ormore core functionalities of data storage system 112 may include databackup, data restoration, data replication, data archival, storagefiler, operating system, garbage collection, infrastructure needed toexecute one or more applications (e.g., hypervisor, containerinfrastructure) etc. Data storage system 112 has a total amount ofavailable resources and may need a portion of the total amount ofavailable resources to perform the one or more core functionalities. Theamount of resources needed to perform the one or more applications maychange over time based on a schedule associated with the one or moreapplications. For example, a first set of resources may be needed toback up data, a second set of resources may be needed to restore data, athird set of resources may be needed to replicate data, a fourth set ofresources may be needed to perform garbage collection, . . . , and annth set of resources may be needed to perform an nth core functionality.Data storage system 112 may not need to reserve resources for all of thecore functionalities at a particular point in time because all of thecore functionalities are not scheduled to be performed at the particularpoint in time.

The total amount of available resources less the amount of resourcesreserved for one or more core functionalities may be the amount ofresources available for one or more applications. Each of the one ormore applications may be provisioned a corresponding default amount ofresources. The default amount of resources allocated for a firstapplication may be different from the default amount of resourcesallocated for a second application. After each of the one or moreapplications is provisioned their corresponding default amount ofresources, data storage system 112 may have a surplus of resourcesavailable for one or more applications. Data storage system 112 mayprovision the surplus of resources for one or more applications to scaleup the one or more applications.

Data storage system 112 may be configured to store and run one or moreapplications. The one or more applications may be configured to run oneor more processes on the data that is backed up from primary system 102to data storage system 112. In some embodiments, the one or moreapplications are configured to run one or more processes on the datathat is generated on or by data storage system 112 (e.g., data generatedby a storage filer). In some embodiments, the one or more applicationsmay be configured to run as a background process on data storage system112.

In some embodiments, an application is stored on a data storage systemas a set of container images. When the application is executed on thedata storage system, the application may be comprised of one or morelayers where each layer is comprised of one or more virtualizationcontainers. Each virtualization container associated with theapplication may perform a service or process. For example, a first layerof the application may be comprised of one virtualization container, thesecond layer of the application may be comprised of two virtualizationcontainers, and the third layer of the application may be comprised ofone virtualization container. Each layer may be comprised of one or morevirtualization container types. For example, a layer may be comprised ofa first type of virtualization container and a second type ofvirtualization container. The plurality of layers may expressed using aresource ratio. An application comprised of a first layer having onevirtualization container, a second layer having two virtualizationcontainers, and a third layer having one virtualization container has aresource ratio of 1:2:1. The application developer may specify theresource ratio that is to be maintained to ensure that the applicationworks properly. The application developer may also specify the one ormore container types associated with each application layer.

Data storage system 112 has a total amount of available resources. Thetotal amount of available resources associated with data storage system112 is based on the storage nodes 111, 113, 115. The total amount ofavailable resources associated with data storage system 112 may changeat any moment. For example, a storage node may go offline or a storagenode may be added to data storage system 112. Resource manager 116 maymonitor the storage nodes of data storage system 112 to determine thetotal amount of available resources associated with data storage system112 at any point in time. This may assist resource manager 116 toproperly allocate system resources for the one or more corefunctionalities and the one or more applications. Overall systemperformance may be degraded in the event resource manager 116accidentally allocates, for an application, resources that should beallocated for the one or more core functionalities associated with datastorage system 112.

Resource manager 116 may be configured to monitor the system resourceutilizations by the one or more core functionalities of data storagesystem 112. Resource manager 116 may be running on one of the storagenodes 111, 113, 115. In some embodiments, resource manager 116 isrunning across a plurality of the storage nodes 111, 113, 115. Resourcemanager 116 may prioritize the one or more core functionalities of datastorage system 112 over the one or more applications, i.e., systemresources of data storage system 112 are first allocated to the one ormore core functionalities and any remaining resources are allocated tothe one or more applications. Resource manager 116 may be configured toallocate resources such that data storage system 112 is able to performthe one or more core functionalities and to provide the correspondingdefault amount of resources needed to run the one or more applications.In some embodiments, resource manager 116 has a surplus of resources(e.g., additional resources in excess of the default amount of resourcesallocated to the one or more applications) to allocate because the oneor more core functionalities may be consuming less than the amount ofresources reserved for the one or more core functionalities. Resourcemanager 116 may re-allocate the surplus of resources for the one or moreapplications, i.e., provide one or more applications with additionalresources.

Additional resources may be provisioned for an application to improve aperformance of the application. However, merely provisioning additionalresources to an application may cause the application to experienceproblems, such as suboptimal operation or an inefficient usage ofresources. An application may be comprised of a plurality of layerswhere each layer is comprised of one or more virtualization containers.Data storage system 112 may have additional resources to add anadditional virtualization container to one of the virtualizationcontainer layers. However, adding an additional virtualization containerto one of the virtualization container layers may create bottleneckswithin the application. For example, an application may be comprised ofthree layers and have a resource ratio of 1:2:1. Additional resourcesmay be provided such that the resource ratio is 1:3:1. The second layerof virtualization containers may process data at such a rate that thevirtualization container of the third layer is unable to maintain therate at which it processes data. In some embodiments, adding anadditional virtualization container to one of the virtualizationcontainer layers without adding virtualizations containers to the othervirtualization container layers may cause the application to stopworking.

A portion of the total amount of available resources may be reserved forthe one or more core functionalities. The total amount of availableresources less the amount of resources reserved for one or more corefunctionalities may be the amount of resources available to operate theone or more applications. A surplus of resources may be available forthe one or more applications. The surplus of resources are additionalresources in excess of the default amount of resources allocated to theone or more applications. Resource manager 116 may provision theadditional resources to an application based on the resource ratio. Acertain amount of resources is needed to scale the number ofvirtualization containers of an application to a multiple of theresource ratio. For example, the application may have a resource ratioof 1:2:1 and the number of virtualization containers of the applicationmay be scaled to 2:4:2, 3:6:3, . . . , n:2n:n. Resource manager 116 maycompare the amount of resources needed to scale the number ofvirtualization containers of the application to a multiple of theresource ratio to the surplus of resources associated with data storagesystem 112. In the event the amount of resources needed to scale thenumber of virtualization containers of the application to a multiple ofthe resource ratio is less than the surplus of resources associated withdata storage system 112, resource manager 116 may provision additionalresources to the application. In some embodiments, the number ofvirtualization containers at each layer is a relative number.

In some embodiments, the number of virtualization containers of theapplication is scaled to more than a threshold multiple of the resourceratio (e.g., 10×). For applications that are to be scaled more than athreshold multiple of the resource ratio (e.g., 10×), a layer comprisinga plurality of virtualization containers may be scaled up according tothe application container within a threshold number of virtualizationcontainers (e.g., ±one virtualization container) without degrading aperformance of the application. For example, for an application having aresource ratio of 1:2:1, the number of virtualization containers may bescaled to 10:20:9 or 10:20:11 without degrading a performance of theapplication. The threshold multiple of the resource ratio and thethreshold number of virtualization containers may be specified by a userof the data storage system or an app developer of the application.

Other factors may be considered by resource manager 116 when determiningwhether to provision additional resources to an application. Forexample, resource manager 116 may provision resources for an applicationbased on an amount of data associated with the application. Theplurality of files stored by data storage system 112 may be tagged witha file type. Data storage system 112 may use the file type tags todetermine the amount of data of a particular type stored by data storagesystem 112 and to determine the amount of data associated with theapplication. Resource manager 116 may determine whether to provisionadditional resources for the application based on whether the additionalresources result in an improved performance of the application that isgreater than a threshold amount.

Resources may be provisioned to an application based on a scheduleassociated with the one or more core functionalities associated withdata storage system 112. One or more core functionalities may bescheduled to be performed at a particular time. Resource manager 116 mayestimate the amount of resources that the one or more corefunctionalities will need at the particular time. In the event the datastorage system is able to perform one or more core functionalitiesassociated with the data storage system at their scheduled times,resource manager 116 may provision the additional resources to one ormore applications.

In some embodiments, an application is stored as one or more virtualmachine images. When the one or more virtual machine images are executedby data storage system 112, the application may be comprised of one ormore layers where each layer is comprised of one or more virtualmachines. The application comprised of a plurality of virtual machinesmay be scaled up or scaled down based on a resource ratio when executedby a data storage system. The resource ratio for an applicationcomprised of one or more layers where each layer is comprised of one ormore virtual machines describes the number of virtual machines at eachlayer of the application. The number of virtual machines of theapplication may be scaled to a multiple of the resource ratio in asimilar manner as the number of virtualization containers of theapplication are scaled to a multiple of the resource ratio, as describedherein.

A virtualization container and a virtual machine may both be referred toas a “virtualization resource unit.”

FIG. 2A is a block diagram illustrating an example of an applicationhosted on a data storage system in accordance with some embodiments. Inthe example shown, data storage system 200 may be implemented as a datastorage system, such as data storage system 112.

Data storage system 200 is comprised of storage nodes 201, 211, 221.Although three storage nodes are depicted, data storage system 200 maybe comprised of n storage nodes. In some embodiments, data storagesystem 200 is comprised of a plurality of homogeneous storage nodeswhere each storage node has the same configuration (e.g., sameprocessing power, storage space, and memory resources). In someembodiments, data storage system 200 is comprised of a plurality ofheterogeneous storage nodes where at least one of the storage nodes hasa different configuration than at least one of the other storage nodes.

In the example shown, an application is hosted on storage node 201 andis comprised of four virtualization resource units. The application mayhave a resource ratio of 1:2:1. The first layer may be comprised of aninstance 202 of virtualization resource unit type A, the second layermay be comprised of a first instance 203 a of virtualization resourceunit type B and a second instance 203 b of virtualization resource unittype B, and the third layer may be comprised of an instance 204 ofvirtualization resource unit type C. In some embodiments, a layer may becomprised of a plurality of virtualization resource units. A layer maybe comprised of a plurality of instances of the same type ofvirtualization resource unit. A layer may be comprised of differenttypes of virtualization resource units. A layer may be comprised of atleast two instances of the same type of virtualization resource unit andone or more other types of virtualization resource units.

FIGS. 2B, 2C, and 2D are block diagrams illustrating examples of ascaled application hosted on a data storage system in accordance withsome embodiments. In the example shown, data storage systems 225, 250,275 may be implemented as a data storage system, such as data storagesystem 112.

In the example shown, additional resources have been provisioned for anapplication. A data storage system may provision additional resources toan application based on a resource ratio associated with theapplication.

Merely provisioning additional resources to an application may cause theapplication to experience problems, such as suboptimal operation or aninefficient usage of resources. An application may be comprised of aplurality of layers where each layer is comprised of one or morevirtualization resource units (e.g., virtualization container, virtualmachine). The data storage system may have additional resources to addan additional virtualization resource unit to one of the applicationlayers. However, adding an additional virtualization resource unit toone of the application layers may create bottlenecks within theapplication. In some embodiments, adding an additional virtualizationresource unit to one of the layers without adding virtualizationresource units to the other layers may cause the application to stopworking.

A particular amount of resources is needed to scale the number ofvirtualization resource units of the application to a multiple of theresource ratio. In the example shown, the application has a resourceratio of 1:2:1 and the number of virtualization resource units of theapplication may be scaled to a multiple of the resource ratio, such as2:4:2, 3:6:3, . . . , n:2n:n. The amount of resources needed to scale upthe number of virtualization resource units of the application to amultiple of the resource ratio may be compared to the surplus ofresources associated with the data storage system. In the event theamount of resources needed to scale the number of virtualizationresource units of the application to a multiple of the resource ratio isless than or equal to the surplus of resources associated with the datastorage system, additional resources may be provisioned to theapplication. In the event the amount of resources needed to scale thenumber of virtualization resource units of the application to a multipleof the resource ratio is more than the surplus of resources associatedwith the data storage system, additional resources may not beprovisioned to the application.

In the example shown, the number of virtualization resource units of theapplication has been scaled to 2:4:2. The first layer is comprised of afirst instance 202 of virtualization resource unit type A and a secondinstance 222 of virtualization resource unit type A, the second layer iscomprised of a first instance 203 a of virtualization resource unit typeB, a second instance 203 b of virtualization resource unit type B, athird instance 223 a of virtualization resource unit type B, and afourth instance 223 b of virtualization resource unit type B, and thethird layer is comprised of a first instance 204 of virtualizationresource unit type C and a second instance 224 of virtualizationresource unit type C.

In some embodiments, for example as shown in FIG. 2B, the additionalvirtualization resource units are hosted on the same storage node as theinitial virtualization resource units. In some embodiments, for exampleas shown in FIG. 2C, the additional virtualization resource units arehosted on a different storage node than the storage node hosting theinitial virtualization resource units. As seen in FIG. 2C, the number ofvirtualization resource units of the application has been scaled to2:4:2. The first layer is comprised of a first instance 202 ofvirtualization resource unit type A and a second instance 252 ofvirtualization resource unit type A. The first instance 202 ofvirtualization resource unit type A is hosted on storage node 201 andthe second instance 252 of virtualization resource unit type A is hostedon storage node 211. The second layer is comprised of a first instance203 a of virtualization resource unit type B, a second instance 203 b ofvirtualization resource unit type B, a third instance 253 a ofvirtualization resource unit type B, and a fourth instance 253 b ofvirtualization resource unit type B. The first and second instances 203a, 203 b of virtualization resource unit type B are hosted on storagenode 201 and the third and fourth instances 253 a, 253 b ofvirtualization resource unit type B are hosted on storage node 211. Thethird layer is comprised of a first instance 204 of virtualizationresource unit type C and a second instance 254 of virtualizationresource unit type C. The first instance 204 of virtualization resourceunit type C is hosted on storage node 201 and the second instance 254 ofvirtualization resource unit type C is hosted on storage node 211.

In some embodiments, the additional virtualization resource units arehosted across a plurality of the storage nodes of data storage system275. As seen in FIG. 2D, the number of virtualization resource units ofthe application has been scaled to 2:4:2. The first layer is comprisedof a first instance 202 of virtualization resource unit type A and asecond instance 272 of virtualization resource unit type A. The firstinstance 202 of virtualization resource unit type A is hosted on storagenode 201 and the second instance 272 of virtualization resource unittype A is hosted on storage node 211. The second layer is comprised of afirst instance 203 a of virtualization resource unit type B, a secondinstance 203 b of virtualization resource unit type B, a third instance273 a of virtualization resource unit type B, and a fourth instance 273b of virtualization resource unit type B. The first and second instances203 a, 203 b of virtualization resource unit type B are hosted onstorage node 201, the third instance 273 a of virtualization resourceunit type B is hosted on storage node 211, and the fourth instance 273 bof virtualization resource unit type B is hosted on storage node 221.The third layer is comprised of a first instance 204 of virtualizationresource unit type C and a second instance 274 of virtualizationresource unit type C. The first instance 204 of virtualization resourceunit type C is hosted on storage node 201 and the second instance 274 ofvirtualization resource unit type C is hosted on storage node 221.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationhosted on a data storage system in accordance with some embodiments.Process 300 may be implemented by a data storage system, such as datastorage system 112. Process 300 may be performed according to a schedule(e.g., hourly, daily, etc.) In some embodiments, process 300 isdynamically performed as resources become available or unavailable forone or more applications. In some embodiments, the application iscomprised of one or more layers where each layer is comprised of one ormore virtualization resource units. In some embodiments, avirtualization resource unit is a virtualization container. In someembodiments, a virtualization resource unit is a virtual machine.

At 302, system resource utilization by one or more core functionalitiesof a data storage system is monitored. For example, the one or more corefunctionalities of the data storage system may include data backup, datarestoration, data replication, data archival, storage filer, operatingsystem, infrastructure needed to execute one or more applications (e.g.,hypervisor, container infrastructure) etc. The data storage system has atotal amount of available resources to run the one or more corefunctionalities. A portion of the total amount of available resourcesmay be reserved for the one or more core functionalities. The portion ofthe total amount of available resources reserved for the one or morecore functionalities may vary over time depending upon the resourceneeds of the one or more core functionalities. The total amount ofavailable resources less the amount of resources reserved for one ormore core functionalities may be the amount of resources available tooperate the one or more applications. The amount of resources of thedata storage system may change based on a number of online storage nodesassociated with the data storage system. The one or more corefunctionalities of the data storage system may be given resourcepriority over the one or more applications. The amount of resourcesneeded by the one or more core functionalities is determined.

At 304, a system resource allocation for one or more applications of thedata storage system is determined based at least in part on themonitored system resource utilizations. Each of the one or moreapplications requires a corresponding default amount of resources tooperate. The data storage system may be configured to allocate resourcessuch that the data storage system is able to perform the one or morecore functionalities and to provide the corresponding default amount ofresources needed to run the one or more applications. The determinedamount of resources needed by the one or more core functionalities maybe subtracted from the total amount of resources of the data storagesystem to determine an amount of resources available for one or moreapplications. In some embodiments, the system resource allocation forone or more application of the data storage system is determined inresponse to a change in the monitored system resource utilizations.

At 306, a number of virtualization resource units allocated to at leastone of the one or more applications is scaled based at least in part onthe determined system resource allocation. In some embodiments, thevirtualization resource units are virtualization containers. Anapplication may be scaled up or scaled down based on a multiple of theresource ratio. In some embodiments, the virtualization resource unitsare virtual machines. An application may be scaled up or scaled downbased on a multiple of the virtual machine ratio.

A resource manager of a data storage system may allocate resources tothe application to scale up or scale down the number of virtualizationresource units associated with the application. The resource manager mayhave an overall view of the resources needed by the one or more corefunctionalities and a schedule of when the one or more corefunctionalities need corresponding resources.

In some embodiments, the number of virtualization resource unitsassociated with an application is scaled up when the application islaunched. The number of virtualization resource units associated withthe application may be scaled up based on a multiple of a resource ratioassociated with the application. For example, the application may have aresource ratio of 1:2:1 and the number of virtualization containers ofthe application may be scaled to a multiple of the resource ratio, suchas 2:4:2, 3:6:3, . . . , n:2n:n. In some embodiments, the number ofvirtualization resource units associated with an application is scaledup while the application is running.

An application may only process jpeg data. The data storage system maystore jpeg files occupying a small amount of storage (e.g., less than100 MB of jpeg files). Even though additional resources may beprovisioned to the application, a resource manager of the data storagesystem may decide against provisioning additional resources to theapplication because the improvement in performance of the application isnegligible (performance doesn't improve more than a threshold amount).The additional resources that may be provisioned for the application maybe provisioned to a different application. In some embodiments, the datastorage system may store jpeg files occupying a large amount of storage(e.g., more than 1 TB of jpeg files). The data storage system mayprovision additional resources to the application when they becomeavailable to help the application process jpeg files faster because theimprovement in performance of the application is non-negligible(performance improves more than a threshold amount). The plurality offiles stored by the data storage system may be tagged with a file type.The data storage system may use the file type tags to determine theamount of data of a particular type stored by the data storage system,to determine the amount of data to be processed by the application, andto determine whether provisioning additional resources for theapplication results in a non-negligible improvement in a performance ofthe application. In some embodiments, a user associated with the datastorage system specifies an amount of resources that may be provisionedfor an application. The user associated with the storage system mayindicate that an application is not to be scaled up in the event asurplus of resources exists (e.g., because the improvement inperformance is not greater than a threshold amount). In someembodiments, the one or more applications are scaled up or scaled downbased on an amount of latency associated with the data storage system.

Resources may be provisioned to one or more applications based on aschedule associated with the one or more core functionalities of thedata storage system. One or more core functionalities may be scheduledto be performed at a particular time. The data storage system canestimate the amount of resources that the one or more corefunctionalities will need at the particular time. In the event the datastorage system is able to perform the one or more core functionalitiesassociated with the data storage system at the particular time, the datastorage system may provision the remaining resources for one or moreapplications.

Using a resource ratio to scale up virtualization resource unitsassociated with an application may not only ensure that the applicationwill process data faster, but also may ensure that the application isable to properly function. Furthermore, providing the one or more corefunctionalities of a data storage system with resource priority over theone or more application may ensure that the one or more corefunctionalities of the data storage system are not disrupted fromproperly functioning.

In some embodiments, the number of virtualization resource unitsassociated with an application is scaled down. A process of the datastorage system may give to the application a command to scale down theapplication. In response to the command, the application may scale downthe number of virtualization resource units associated with theapplication. The application may have a built-in process to scale downthe application in response to a command. The number of virtualizationresource units associated with an application may be scaled down whilethe application is running. In some embodiments, the application maytransition to a scaled down version of the application. A scaled downversion of the application may include the default amount of resources.In some embodiments, the scaled down version of the application includesan amount of resources to support a number of virtualization resourceunits that is a multiple of the resource ratio, but the multiple of theresource ratio is less than the multiple of the scaled up version of theapplication. For example, a scaled up version of the application mayinclude a number of virtualization resource units that is a 5× multipleof the resource ratio and a scaled down version of the application mayinclude a number of virtualization resource units that is a 3× multipleof the resource ratio.

An application may have been previously scaled up when the data storagesystem had a surplus of resources and may need to be scaled down inresponse to a trigger event. A trigger event may include a resourcemanager of the data storage system determining that the amount ofresources consumed by one or more core functionalities is increasing oris scheduled to be increased. In response to the determination, theresource manager may re-allocate the additional resources allocated tothe one or more applications to the one or more core functionalities.The trigger event may occur when the application completes its task(e.g., after an anti-virus scan). In response to the applicationcompleting its task, the resource manager may re-allocate the resourcesof the completed application for one or more other applications. Thetrigger event may occur when another application comes online and needsresources to run. In response to the other application coming online,the resource manager may re-allocate resources that are allocated forthe scaled up application for the other application.

In some embodiments, a resource manager determines that high priorityapplications may be scaled down first before medium priorityapplications and low priority applications because high priorityapplications consume more system resources than medium and low priorityapplications. In some embodiments, a resource manager determines thatlow priority applications are to be scaled down first before mediumpriority applications and high priority applications because lowpriority applications do not need systems resources as much as mediumand high priority applications.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationin accordance with some embodiments. In the example shown, process 400may be implemented by a data storage system, such as data storage system112. Process 400 may be implemented to perform some or all of step 306of process 300. In some embodiments, the application is comprised of oneor more layers where each layer is comprised of one or morevirtualization resource units. In some embodiments, a virtualizationresource unit is a virtualization container. In some embodiments, avirtualization resource unit is a virtual machine.

A data storage system may be running one or more core functionalities.The one or more core functionalities may require a particular amount ofresources. The data storage system has a total amount of availableresources. A portion of the total amount of available resources may bereserved for the one or more core functionalities. The portion of thetotal amount of available resources reserved for the one or more corefunctionalities may vary over time depending upon the resource needs ofthe one or more core functionalities.

The data storage system may have one or more applications installed.Examples of applications include, but are not limited to, a dataanalytics application, an anti-virus application, a malicious softwaredetection application, a search application, etc. The total amount ofavailable resources less the amount of resources reserved for one ormore core functionalities may be the amount of resources available tooperate the one or more applications.

Each of the applications hosted installed on the data storage system mayrequire a corresponding default amount of resources. An application mayrun on the data storage system in the event a corresponding default ofresources associated with the application is less than or equal to theamount of resources available to operate the one or more applications.The data storage system may have a surplus of resources to provision theapplication (e.g., additional resources in excess of the default amountof resources allocated to the one or more applications). The applicationmay be scaled up in the event the resources needed to scale up theapplication are less than or equal to the surplus of resourcesavailable.

At 402, a request to launch an application is received. The request maybe received from a user associated with a data storage system. In someembodiments, the application is scheduled to be performed at aparticular point in time.

At 404, it is determined whether there is a surplus of resourcesavailable for the application. In the event a surplus of resources isavailable for the application, process 400 proceeds to 406. In the eventa surplus of resources is not available for the application, process 400proceeds to 410.

At 406, a priority associated with the application is determined. Eachapplication may have an associated priority. The priority may be basedon the total amount of resources needed to scale up the application.Some applications may require more resources than other applications torun. A priority may be assigned to an application based on the defaultamount of resources needed to run the application. For example, anapplication that needs less than a first threshold of system resourcesto run may be classified as a low priority application. An applicationthat needs more than a first threshold of system resources to run butless than a second threshold of system resources to run may beclassified as a medium priority application. An application that needsmore than a first threshold of system resources and more than a secondthreshold of system resources to run may be classified as a highpriority application.

The priority may be based on an importance of the application. Forexample, an anti-virus scanning application may be given higher prioritythan a data analytics application. The importance of the application maybe specified by a user associated with the data storage system.

In some embodiments, an application developer specifies the minimum andmaximum amount of resources to be allocated for an application. Theapplication may be assigned a priority based on the maximum amount ofresources to be allocated for the application.

At 408, the application is scaled based on the determined priority. Insome embodiments, the priority associated with an application determinesthe multiple of the resource ratio to which the number of virtualizationresource units of the application is scaled. For example, theapplication may be a high priority application. The number ofvirtualization resource units of the high priority application may bescaled to any multiple of the resource ratio that is supported by thesurplus of resources.

An application may be a medium priority application. The number ofvirtualization resource units of the medium priority application may bescaled to a threshold multiple of the resource ratio. The number ofresources needed to scale the medium priority application to thethreshold multiple of the resource ratio is less than the surplus ofresources. Additional resources may be provisioned to the mediumpriority application to scale the medium priority application to amultiple greater than the threshold multiple of the resource ratio, buta resource manager of the data storage system may decide againstprovisioning additional resources to the medium priority applicationbeyond the number of resources needed to scale the medium priorityapplication to the threshold multiple of the resource ratio because theapplication is a medium priority application. A user of the data storagesystem may specify an application as a medium priority application.

An application may be a low priority application. In some embodiments,the low priority application is not scaled up, even though a surplus ofresources is available. A resource manager of the data storage systemmay decide against provisioning additional resources to the low priorityapplication because provisioning additional resources to the lowpriority application may not improve a performance of the low priorityapplication more than a threshold amount.

A data storage system may have a particular amount of surplus resourcesavailable to scale one or more applications. In the event resources areallocated for a first application, the data storage system may not haveany remaining resources to scale up one or more other applications. Anapplication with a higher priority than another application may bescaled up before the other application. For example, an application witha high priority may be scaled up before an application with a medium orlow priority. An application with a medium priority may be scaled upbefore an application with a low priority.

The resources associated with the application may be scaled based on theresource ratio associated with the application.

At 410, a default amount of resources is provisioned for theapplication. The default amount of resources for the application may bespecified by an application developer. The default amount of resourcesmay be the minimum amount of resources needed to run the application. Insome embodiments, the default amount of resources may be the amount ofresources needed to meet certain performance metrics for theapplication. The default amount of resources provisioned for a firstapplication may be different than the default amount of resourcesprovisioned for a second application.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationin accordance with some embodiments. In the example shown, process 500may be implemented by a data storage system, such as data storage system112. Process 500 may be implemented to perform some or all of 306 ofprocess 300. Process 500 may be implemented to perform some or all of408 of process 400. In some embodiments, the application is comprised ofone or more layers where each layer is comprised of one or morevirtualization resource units. In some embodiments, a virtualizationresource unit is a virtualization container. In some embodiments, avirtualization resource unit is a virtual machine.

At 502, it is determined that a surplus of resources for one or moreapplications is available. A surplus of resources may be additionalresources in excess of the default amount of resources allocated to theone or more applications. A data storage system has a total amount ofavailable resources. A portion of the total amount of availableresources may be reserved for one or more core functionalities. Thetotal amount of available resources less the amount of resourcesreserved for one or more core functionalities is the amount of resourcesavailable for one or more applications. Each of the one or moreapplications may be provisioned a corresponding default amount ofresources. The default amount of resources for a first application maybe different from the default amount of resources for a secondapplication. After each of the one or more applications is provisionedits corresponding default amount of resources, the data storage systemmay have a surplus of resources available for the one or moreapplications.

At 504, an application of the one or more applications is selected. Theapplication may be selected based on a priority associated with theapplication. For example, an application having a “high priority” may beselected before an application having a “medium priority” and anapplication having a “medium priority” may be selected before anapplication having a “low priority.” In some embodiments, theapplication is randomly selected. In some embodiments, the applicationis selected based on an amount of data to be processed by theapplication.

At 506, it is determined whether the surplus of resources for the one ormore applications is enough to scale an application based on a resourceratio associated with the application.

For example, an application may have a resource ratio of 1:2:1. Eachvirtualization resource unit associated with the application may requirea different amount of resources. To scale up the application, thesurplus of resources may need to be greater than the amount of resourcesneeded to scale the number of virtualization resource units of theapplication to a multiple of the resource ratio.

In the event the surplus of resources for the one or more applicationsis sufficient to scale the application based on a resource ratioassociated with the application, process 500 proceeds to 508. In theevent the surplus of resources for the one or more applications is notsufficient to scale the application based on a resource ratio associatedwith the application, process 500 proceeds to 510.

At 508, the application is scaled based on its corresponding resourceratio. The number of virtualization resource units of the applicationmay be scaled to a multiple of the application's resource ratio. Thenumber of virtualization resource units of the application may be scaledto any multiple of the application's resource ratio as long as theamount of resources needed to scale the number of virtualizationresource units of the application to the multiple is less than thesurplus of resources available for one or more applications.

In some embodiments, a maximum amount of resources to be provisioned foran application may be specified. In some embodiments, the application isnot scaled beyond the specified maximum amount of resources for theapplication, even if additional resources are available to further scalethe application.

At 510, a different application is selected. In some embodiments, thedifferent application is selected based on a priority associated withthe different application. In some embodiments, the differentapplication is selected based on application type. In some embodiments,the different application is randomly selected.

FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling a plurality ofapplications in accordance with some embodiments. In the example shown,process 600 may be implemented by a data storage system, such as datastorage system 112. Process 600 may be implemented to perform some orall of 306 of process 300. In some embodiments, the application iscomprised of one or more layers where each layer is comprised of one ormore virtualization resource units. In some embodiments, avirtualization resource unit is a virtualization container. In someembodiments, a virtualization resource unit is a virtual machine.

At 602, it is determined that a surplus of resources is available forone or more applications. A surplus of resources may be additionalresources in excess of the default amount of resources allocated to theone or more applications. A data storage system has a total amount ofavailable resources. A portion of the total amount of availableresources may be reserved for one or more core functionalities. Thetotal amount of available resources less the amount of resourcesreserved for one or more core functionalities is the amount of resourcesavailable for one or more applications. Each of the one or moreapplications may be provisioned a corresponding default amount ofresources. The default amount of resources for a first application maybe different from the default amount of resources for a secondapplication. After each of the one or more applications is provisionedits corresponding default amount of resources, the data storage systemmay have a surplus of resources available for the one or moreapplications.

At 604, the surplus of resources are allocated among the one or moreapplications. In some embodiments, the surplus of resources are evenlyallocated among the one or more applications. For example, the datastorage system may be running three applications and have an additionalthirty shares of resources to allocate. Each of the three applicationsmay be allocated ten shares of resources.

In some embodiments, the surplus of resources are allocated among theone or more applications based on a priority associated with anapplication. For example, a high priority application may be given moreof the surplus of resources than a medium priority application or a lowpriority application. Applications with the same priority may be giventhe same percentage of the surplus of resources. For example, the datastorage system may be running three applications and have thirty sharesof surplus resources to allocate. A first application and a secondapplication may both be a high priority application and a thirdapplication may be a low priority application. The first and secondapplications may be each allocated thirteen shares of the surplus ofresources and the third application may be allocated four shares of thesurplus of resources.

At 606, the one or more applications are scaled based on the allocatedsurplus of resources. In some embodiments, the virtualization resourceunits associated with the one or more applications are scaled to amultiple of the resource ratio that is permitted with the allocatedsurplus of resources. In some embodiments, the multiple of the resourceratio is the maximum multiple of the resource ratio that is permittedwith the allocated surplus of resources. In other embodiments, themultiple of the resource ratio is a multiple that is less than themaximum multiple of the resource ratio that is permitted with theallocated surplus of resources and greater than the default resourceratio.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating a process for scaling an applicationin accordance with some embodiments. In the example shown, process 700may be implemented by a data storage system, such as data storage system112. Process 700 may be implemented to perform some or all of 306 ofprocess 300. In some embodiments, the application is comprised of one ormore layers where each layer is comprised of one or more virtualizationresource units. In some embodiments, a virtualization resource unit is avirtualization container. In some embodiments, a virtualization resourceunit is a virtual machine.

At 702, a request to launch an application is received. The request maybe received from a user associated with a data storage system. In someembodiments, the application is scheduled to be performed at aparticular point in time. The application may request an initial amountof resources to be used by the application upon launch and may alsorequest a subsequent amount of resources to be reserved for use by theapplication after launch.

At 704, a first amount of resources is provisioned for the application.The first amount of resources may be the default amount of resourcesneeded to run the application. The first amount of resources may be theminimum amount of resources needed to run the application. In someembodiments, the first amount of resources is the amount of resourcesneeded to meet certain performance metrics for the application. Thefirst amount of resources provisioned for a first application may bedifferent than the first amount of resources provisioned for a secondapplication.

An application may be comprised of a master container or a mastervirtual machine. The master container or master virtual machine may beconfigured to control how the application is scaled up or scaled down.The application may be scaled up or scaled down while the application isrunning.

At 706, a second amount of resources is allocated for the application.The second amount of resources may be allocated for the application uponthe application being launched. The application may decide when to usethe second amount of resources. The second amount of resources may beused in response to an increase in application load.

In some embodiments, the master container needs one or more additionalcontainers to perform one or more processes associated with theapplication. Instead of requesting additional resources from the datastorage system on an as-needed basis, the master container may use aportion of or the entire second amount of resources to scale up theapplication to include the one or more additional virtualizationcontainers. In some embodiments, the number of containers is scaled upbased on a resource ratio of the application. In some embodiments, thenumber of containers is not scaled up based on a resource ratio of theapplication. Instead, the master container decides the number ofcontainers that need to be added to the application. The mastercontainer may also scale down the application after the application isscaled up. The freed up resources of the application as a result of theapplication being scaled down may be reserved for the application forfuture use.

In some embodiments, the master virtual machine needs one or moreadditional virtual machines to perform one or more processes associatedwith the application. Instead of requesting additional resources fromthe data storage system on an as-needed basis, the master virtualmachine may use a portion of or the entire second amount of resources toscale up the application to include one or more additional virtualmachines. In some embodiments, the number of virtual machines is scaledup based on a virtual machine ratio of the application. In someembodiments, the number of virtual machines is not scaled up based on avirtual machine ratio of the application. Instead, the master virtualmachine decides the number of virtual machines that need to be added tothe application. The master virtual machine may also scale down theapplication after the application is scaled up. The freed up resourcesof the application as a result of the application being scaled down maybe reserved for the application for future use.

The invention can be implemented in numerous ways, including as aprocess; an apparatus; a system; a composition of matter; a computerprogram product embodied on a computer readable storage medium; and/or aprocessor, such as a processor configured to execute instructions storedon and/or provided by a memory coupled to the processor. In thisspecification, these implementations, or any other form that theinvention may take, may be referred to as techniques. In general, theorder of the steps of disclosed processes may be altered within thescope of the invention. Unless stated otherwise, a component such as aprocessor or a memory described as being configured to perform a taskmay be implemented as a general component that is temporarily configuredto perform the task at a given time or a specific component that ismanufactured to perform the task. As used herein, the term ‘processor’refers to one or more devices, circuits, and/or processing coresconfigured to process data, such as computer program instructions.

A detailed description of one or more embodiments of the invention isprovided along with accompanying figures that illustrate the principlesof the invention. The invention is described in connection with suchembodiments, but the invention is not limited to any embodiment. Thescope of the invention is limited only by the claims and the inventionencompasses numerous alternatives, modifications and equivalents.Numerous specific details are set forth in the description in order toprovide a thorough understanding of the invention. These details areprovided for the purpose of example and the invention may be practicedaccording to the claims without some or all of these specific details.For the purpose of clarity, technical material that is known in thetechnical fields related to the invention has not been described indetail so that the invention is not unnecessarily obscured.

Although the foregoing embodiments have been described in some detailfor purposes of clarity of understanding, the invention is not limitedto the details provided. There are many alternative ways of implementingthe invention. The disclosed embodiments are illustrative and notrestrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: receiving a request tolaunch an application that is comprised of a plurality of layers,wherein each layer of the plurality of layers of the application iscomprised of one or more corresponding virtualization resource units,wherein the one or more corresponding virtualization resource units ateach of the plurality of layers of the application is expressed as aresource ratio; determining that a surplus of resources is available forone or more applications; in response to determining that the surplus ofresources is available for one or more applications, determining apriority associated with the application; and launching a version of theapplication based on the determined priority associated with theapplication, wherein the launched version of the application maintainsthe resource ratio.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or morecorresponding virtualization resource units are virtual machines.
 3. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the one or more corresponding virtualizationresource units are virtualization containers.
 4. The method of claim 1,wherein determining the priority associated with the applicationincludes determining a total amount of resources needed to scale up theapplication.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the priority associatedwith the application is determined to be a low priority in response todetermining that the total amount of resources needed to scale up theapplication is less than a first threshold of system resources.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the priority associated with the applicationis determined to be a medium priority in response to determining thatthe total amount of resources needed to scale up the application is morethan a first threshold of system resources and less than a secondthreshold of system resources.
 7. The method of claim 4, wherein thepriority associated with the application is determined to be a highpriority in response to determining that the total amount of resourcesneeded to scale up the application is more than a first threshold ofsystem resources and more than a second threshold of system resources.8. The method of claim 1, wherein the priority associated with theapplication is based on an importance of the application.
 9. The methodof claim 1, wherein the importance of the application is specified by auser associated with a storage system.
 10. The method of claim 1,wherein the priority associated with the application is based on amaximum amount of resources specified for the application.
 11. Themethod of claim 1, wherein launching the version of the applicationbased on the determined priority associated with the applicationincludes selecting the application from a plurality of applications. 12.The method of claim 11, wherein the application is selected based on thepriority associated with the application.
 13. The method of claim 11,wherein launching the version of the application based on the determinedpriority associated with the application further includes determiningthat there are enough resources to scale the application based on theresource ratio associated with the application.
 14. The method of claim11, wherein launching the version of the application based on thedetermined priority associated with the application further includesdetermining that there are not enough resources to scale the applicationbased on the resource ratio associated with the application.
 15. Themethod of claim 14, wherein launching the version of the applicationbased on the determined priority associated with the application furtherincludes: selecting a different application from the plurality ofapplications; and scaling the different application based on a secondresource ratio associated with the second application.
 16. A computerprogram product embodied in a non-transitory computer readable mediumand comprising computer instructions for: receiving a request to launchan application that is comprised of a plurality of layers, wherein eachlayer of the plurality of layers of the application is comprised of oneor more corresponding virtualization resource units, wherein the one ormore corresponding virtualization resource units at each of theplurality of layers of the application is expressed as a resource ratio;determining that a surplus of resources is available for one or moreapplications; in response to determining that the surplus of resourcesis available for one or more applications, determining a priorityassociated with the application; and launching a version of theapplication based on the determined priority associated with theapplication, wherein the launched version of the application maintainsthe resource ratio.
 17. The computer program product of claim 16,wherein determining the priority associated with the applicationincludes determining a total amount of resources needed to scale up theapplication.
 18. The computer program product of claim 16, whereinlaunching the version of the application based on the determinedpriority associated with the application includes selecting theapplication from a plurality of applications.
 19. The computer programproduct of claim 18, wherein launching the version of the applicationbased on the determined priority associated with the application furtherincludes determining that there are enough resources to scale theapplication based on the resource ratio associated with the application.20. A system, comprising: a memory; and a processor coupled to thememory, wherein the processor is configured to: receive a request tolaunch an application that is comprised of a plurality of layers,wherein each layer of the plurality of layers of the application iscomprised of one or more corresponding virtualization resource units,wherein the one or more corresponding virtualization resource units ateach of the plurality of layers of the application is expressed as aresource ratio; determine that a surplus of resources is available forone or more applications; in response to determining that the surplus ofresources is available for one or more applications, determine apriority associated with the application; and launch a version of theapplication based on the determined priority associated with theapplication, wherein the launched version of the application maintainsthe resource ratio.